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Lauren Dickason is accused of murdering her three children – Liané, 7, Maya, 3, and Karla, 3 – in Timaru.
A woman accused of murdering her three young daughters in Timaru has had her trial transferred to Christchurch following a request from her lawyer.
The case against Lauren Anne Dickason, 40, was brought before Judge Cameron Mander in the Christchurch Supreme Court on Friday, but Dickason’s appearance was excused. Her counsel, Kerryn Beaton, QC, appeared on her behalf.
Justice Mander said Dickason was still in custody in a medium security psychiatric ward at Hillmorton Hospital in Christchurch, and according to the advice of her attending physician it could be harmful to “expose her to the court” at this stage.
He granted the request to transfer her trial to Christchurch, with a possibility of it starting in mid-2023, but with no set date.
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The Crown did not oppose the move to Christchurch.
A firm date of February 2024 was available for the trial, but earlier dates would be examined, possibly June or July 2023, Justice Mander said.
“At this stage, I simply cannot confirm a trial date for mid-next year,” he said.
Dickason has been exempt from all court hearings since her first appearance.
Dickason, a doctor, her husband Graham, and their three girls – twin daughters Maya and Karla, 2, and their older sister Liané, 6 – arrived in New Zealand from South Africa in August 2021.
Valentina Bellomo
The locals of Timaru hold a beach service in memory of the murdered Dickason girls. (Video first published in September 2021)
The police claim she killed the three children on the night of September 16about a week after the family moved to a property in Queen St, Timaru.
Graham, an orthopedic surgeon, found them dead when he returned home around 10 p.m. after dining with colleagues at a restaurant.
Dickason had to be treated in hospital in the wake of the incident. She appeared in the Timaru District Court the next day, charged with the murder of her three daughters.
Since then, vigils have been held in Timaru and in South Africa to commemorate their deaths.
Suppression orders on the details of the violation continue.
In October, Dickason’s attorney, with her signed consent, pleaded not guilty to all three murders.
Dickason has been taken into custody in Hillmorton until August 5.